


just, just, just

by thornapple (survivalinstinctvalkyria)



Series: ESO Round 3 Entries [2]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Completely sfw though, Eso entry, Friends With Benefits, M/M, look I don't understand this either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 04:57:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20129710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/survivalinstinctvalkyria/pseuds/thornapple
Summary: "Maybe Eichi's trying too, in his own discreet ways, or maybe he just doesn't care - it makes no difference. As long as Eichi allows him to follow close behind, Keito is content. He's got practice, he's been ignoring the way that the word just has always plagued his description of their relationship. They're just childhood friends, they're just a commander and his right hand, they're just friends with benefits.'Just, just, just,' which roughly translates to 'something I'm more or less happy with, but never, never enough.'"//ESO Round 3 EntryPrompt: Out on a date





	just, just, just

**Author's Note:**

> I know I complain about being miserable in the notes of literally every fic but today was particularly shitty so this isn't the best
> 
> I think I started off slightly strong though
> 
> Be warned I didn't know how to end this, I'm really tired

It's not a date, it's  _ never  _ a date, but Keito always treats it like it is. Say what you want about him, you can't say he doesn't try.

Maybe Eichi's trying too, in his own discreet ways, or maybe he just doesn't care - it makes no difference. As long as Eichi allows him to follow close behind, Keito is content. He's got practice, he's been ignoring the way that the word _ just  _ has always plagued his description of their relationship. They're  _ just  _ childhood friends, they're _ just  _ a commander and his right hand, they're  _ just  _ friends with benefits.

_ Just, just, just,  _ which roughly translates to  _ something I'm more or less happy with, but never, never enough. _

That's why this isn't a date, even though they're sitting at a cafe together and Keito's heart is swelling against its cage because Eichi is  _ smiling at him  _ and it's just too much.

Eichi's busy rambling about the tea they're drinking, propping his cheek on the heel of palm as he stares at nothing in particular. His voice holds this dreamy note that transfixes Keito, who's currently preparing his pallet so he can paint over his sketch of Eichi with watercolors.

He's the perfect model, so effortlessly beautiful in a way that goes beyond  _ What a pretty man _ . He's more like a deity, pretty because he holds that air of power and grandeur, because the white noise of his voice in the background is like a serving of honey with hints of pepper (which sounds disgusting but Keito's been told he has questionable taste), because every word he speaks clings to Keito's mind long after it has faded out of existence.

It boils down to: Eichi is a pretty man (in all definitions, visual and not), and Keito is weak, weak,  _ weak _ to pretty things.

One such pretty thing would the notion that this is a date. It should be, by all accounts, because they woke up in the same bed, and made breakfast together, and Eichi's even wearing Keito's shirt - which isn't as big a deal as Keito makes it out to be, since they're the same size and Eichi probably has no idea, but it makes Keito  _ weak, _ both with endearment and guilt, because he feels weirdly perverted about the fact that he hadn't had the heart to tell Eichi.

_ I've slept with him, _ Keito thinks, but it doesn't send the same guilty shiver down his spine as when he thinks of all the times Eichi has curled up against his back while he cooks breakfast, tired and frustrated that his pillow had left him.

He likes everything he has with Eichi, he likes their bickering, their casual closeness, the undoubted loyalty they hold for each other, their seemingly misplaced intimacy, the way that Eichi feels under him, so bright and hot and  _ burning _ .

(He's a red supergiant, about to explode, and the fear of what will come of it paralyzes Keito.

How stupid. He'll be caught in the blast, he'll be  _ burned _ .)

Some masochistic part of himself is addicted to  _ this _ : Eichi smiling at him as prettily as he always does, blissfully unaware of his feelings.

"Hey, Keito, show me what you're drawing."

"No."

"Why? Is it embarrassing?"

It is, and Eichi's look of lazy amusement doesn't help.

"You can trust me, can't you?" Eichi prods. "I  _ am  _ your childhood friend, aren't I?"

_ Yes, but no - you're  _ so  _ much more than that. You're the person who I imagine in my bed next to me when I wake up alone. You're the person I imagine I'm cooking for when I cook my meals I silence. You're the person I imagine holding me when the world seems to collapse around me. You're the person I want to be with. _

_ You're the person I'm in love with. _

_ That's _ what Keito wants to say.

"That doesn't mean I trust you," is what Keito says instead. Eichi's smile drops a fraction.

Shuffling his chair next to Keito's, he makes a point to lean as much in Keito's space as possible as he takes a peek.

"You were embarrassed about this? Aww, how romantic."

"Shut up. You were the closest thing I could draw."

_ And also the prettiest- _

"I'm flattered, nonetheless. For you to be drawing me and then get embarrassed when I asked… how cute," he hums, pleased. "I just want to eat you up."

"Shut up. Stop that," Keito replies eloquently.

"Don't be like that…~"

Keito can't tear his eyes away when Eichi reaches his hand over to the other side of the table to take a bite of his crepe.

"Maybe we should hang it up on the wall for our future children to see."

This flirt, he's making Keito wonder if it's creepy for him to imagine feeding Eichi from his own hands.

"Or you can put it on your end table so that you can  _ always _ wake up beside me."

As he leans forward to take another bite, he catches some excess jam with tongue, swiping it across his lips twice. Ugh, why are lips so sensual?

"Or maybe I could keep it? The way that one would keep all the love letters they've received, hidden in a drawer. Except I wouldn't hide this, it's much too pretty."

Maybe he'll buy Eichi another crepe after he's done with this one, in order to make up for one of their _not-a-date_s during high school, during which he stubbornly refused to let Eichi eat sweets. He sure seems to like them.

"Do you like the idea of it being a love letter?"

He's been surprisingly messy with this crepe - Keito can jam dripping down his lips. It tempts him.

"Are you saying that it is a love letter?

It tempts him, so, pulling Eichi closer with a hand at the back of his head, he kisses him until the jam gets lost between them.

Eichi takes a shuddering breath when Keito leans away. "...Was there something on my lips?"

"Jam."

This  _ hurts. _

"Is that it?"

Keito stumbles over his words, knowing exactly what he wants to say but not knowing how to say it.

"You were flirting with me. As a joke. I didn't like it," he mumbles. "And you're wearing my shirt."

Eichi's lips waver like a fish out of water.

"You… I mean- You never seem to care when I flirt, no matter who it is I flirt with. I thought… you just saw me as a friend, a friend who you sleep with, but just a friend nonetheless. I never-"

"I don't see you like that, and I care very much, you flirtatious bastard."

Eichi's quivering lips curve into an unsteady smile.

"Are you saying that you want to go on a date?"

"Kind of, yeah," Keito replies, sarcasm lacing his tone.

"Then how about… we go on a date, right now, and then another the day after, and then the next time we sleep together, we do it as lovers rather than as friends?"

Keito doesn't know whether to laugh or cry tears of joy.

"Is that your way of asking me out?" he asks over a chuckle.

"Yes."

"Then let's go out on a date."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still tired


End file.
